June 14th – 20th – Vacation on the CT waterfront at the Chagnon Family Cottage

Greg and I recived as a wedding gift from his extended family a free week at the family beach cottage on Long Island Sound in Madison, CT. It was a great week composed mostly of relaxing! We read books, cooked dinners, went on a few bike rides (saw 10 bunnies at the State Park), and took care of Shadow. We had good weather for the most part, and more than a few night time thunder & lightening storms. Marci spent the weekend with us, and Sabrina came down from RI for a few days too. The only bummer was we missed the kitties back home.

Here is a few photos from our week at the cottage...

Saturday May 31st: Greg and AJ’s Graduation Party

My parents hosted a joint graduation party for both Greg and AJ in the backyard. We battled a few rain showers, but over all the party was a success. At the end of the night I was playing beer pong with my Uncle Phil as my partner (he stunk). We lost but I did not mind, Uncle Phil was not to happy about our lost and wanted a re-match. Mike and Nikki came down from NH with baby Xavier, who did not like me holding him at all. Greg was happy that Shadow came up to the party from CT with Jim.

Sunday June 8th – Nicole & Phil’s Wedding

I spend most of Saturday helping with wedding prep. I got my hair colored, we (Nicole, Mari, Alli, & me) all went to have mani’s & pedi’s, and a early dinner. Then we sent Nicole off with Alli for a massage, and I helped Mari put together the floral centerpieces. Sunday morning I was off to the salon again where Stacy made us all pretty. We got ready at Patty Rooney’s home, and then it was quick limo drive to the Danversport Yacht Club. Nicole was stunning in her gown! The ceremony was performed by their friend Paul, and he kept it short and funny (thank god because it was HOT out). I gave the toast at the start of the reception. I did not get nervous until I was standing up in front of the whole room. I did not mess it up, and was told by many I did a great job, I was glad that was done (and not on video tape!). We ate dinner and did out best to dance the rest of the party away (it was hot inside too).

May 24th – 27th- 1st Anniversary trip to Bar Harbor, ME

We received gift certificates to bedandbreakfast.com from the best men Nick and Chris for our wedding last year, and decided that getting away for our first wedding anniversary would be a great opportunity to use this great gift. We chose the Primrose Inn in Bar Harbor, ME as our destination. On Saturday we stated our drive, stopping in Freeport, ME to go to the LL Bean Store

where we purchased a new camping tent (lot more space than Greg’s old tent), and had lunch before finishing up the long drive up to Bar Harbor. It was a littlie cloudy and we drove though a few showers and spotted a few rainbows.

GPS guiding the way

Our room at the Primrose Inn was perfect.

The Inn had added this room just the year before, it had it own private entrance,

air jet tub, and small gas fireplace, and as it turned out a brand new king mattress only a week old. It was decorated simply with NO fugly floral wallpaper and lacy curtains it felt more like a nice hotel room and less like a stuffy B&B, perfect!

Dinner on Saturday was at the Chart House. Greg got the backed stuffed lobster, which was great, my scallops left much to be desired

(Cousin Robert has ruined me for good I will only eat your scallops from now on). The view more than made up for my dinner not being the best.

Sunday we headed to Arcida National Park for a bike ride. We missed a turn early that would get us lost and messed up later on, on what we would later describe as a too ambitious bike ride for our first time out this year. Greg would wind up heading back to the car on his own and coming back to pick me up (fail). We did see a lot of beautiful sites along the way (including one wide turkey). We drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain and could see all of Fisherman Bay and Bar Harbor down below, before heading back to the Inn.

View from top of Cadillac Mountain

Dinner Sunday night was at a Cuban restaurant “Havana’s”. Rated Bar Harbor’s best restaurant it did not disappoint! We had the mussles for an appetizer and could not get over how great they tasted! I had the pan seared tuna, and Greg had strip steak for dinner, both meals were awesome! It was a fitting way to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary (since we got married on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend).

On Monday we packed up the car and headed back to Arcida to see all we missed when we missed that important turn on our bike ride on Sunday. We stopped at Sand Beach,

and Thunder Hole (missed the right time to come and see Thunder Hole thunder)

where we ate lunch on the rocks, then we continued on the long drive back home.

Tuesday May 27th our actual anniversary Greg made a yummy dinner

after work and we drank a bottle of champagne. Our cake vendor, Cakes for Occasions, gave us a free cake

for our 1st anniversary, and we decided to take it down the street to Nicole and Phil’s new home, they had closed on the house that morning, so we could celebrate together.

I have had a lot of people ask how the first year of marriage was, and the answer was the same each time: “Great! It went by so fast!” Our wedding day was everything we dreamed and hoped it would be, and marriage has been a great adventure. In the past year we went on a wonderful Honeymoon to Jamaica, I found a new job, we renovated our kitchen almost completely on our own, added a second kitten to our family, and said I love you to each other at least once each day! We love being married to each other, and it just can’t get any better than that!

May 27th 2007

Photo credit: Karl Blaser Photography

May 17th – 18th : Greg’s Graduation & Mimi’s 80th Birthday

After 2+ years of going attending classes part time Greg graduated from Babson College’s MBA program with a stellar 3.32 GPA. The ceremony was performed right on Babson’s campus under a large tent.

Along with my parents (Al & Patty), we meet up with Greg’s Dad Jim who had saved us seats under the tent. After the ceremony Jim treated us all to dinner at Ken’s Steakhouse in Framingham. I am so proud of all the hard work that Greg put into his classes! It is not easy to attend class for hours after work and then have to drive back home to Salem/Burlington/Beverly and spend off nights and weekends working on assignments, group meeting, and readings.

Mimi's 80th Birthday Party





Details to follow

May 9th-11th: AJ Graduation & Mother's Day

Friday night us Chalifour’s headed up to Portland, ME for AJ's graduation from The University of Southern Maine. We all (Mom, Dad, Andy, Tom, Greg, AJ, & Brenna) got some dinner and had too much to drink at the Holiday Inn bar! The ceremony was the next morning we got to sit right next to the stage in the VIP section since AJ was on the stage, since he was the outgoing Student Body President. AJ introduced the student speaker, and took the chance to thank my parents and his brothers and sister, yeah I liked that part.

AJ

Chalifour Family

AJ & Brenna

Mother’s Dad we hosted my family for a late lunch / early dinner. The weather was nice and we decided to cook on the grill and have dinner outside. Greg made one of his famous steak au pave for Mom. We made too much food, but everyone seamed to enjoy the dinner we prepared. It got cold outside fast, and we moved back inside soon after dinner was done. I gave my Mom two handing plants for the back yard.

May 3rd & 4th - Bachelorette/Bachelor Party & Jill turns 30!

We hosted a Bachelorette/Bachelor party for Nicole and Phil on Saturday night. I was so busy playing hostess I forgot to take any photos. I was nice to get to meet more of Phil's friends and everyone had a good time and Alli (another bridesmaid) helped me keep clean up at the end of the night so there was little to do the next day - my Birthday.

My 30th birthday was upon me. We went out and got some breakfast at a place downtown. It was a rainy day, and I did not want to do much (a little hung over from last night’s party), so we watched a movie and then headed over to my parents house for dinner. Mom had out the "Happy Birthday Jill" banner that she has put out since I was a kid! It would not be a birthday without that sign. All us kids (Andy, AJ, & Tom) have one.

Its been a busy few months!

We are finally relaxing on the CT coast, doing a whole lot of nothing at the Changon Family Cottage, after 7 weeks of crazy busy weekends and little time to ourselves. Let take a look back..

April 26th - Early 30th Birthday

We celebrated my 30th Birthday a week early (b/c we were hosting a batcherlotte/bachelor party for Nicole and Phil the weekend of my b-day). I did not want a big party or anything over the top. I requested a get together with my best friends and brothers, and then I wanted to have dinner at the restaurant my cousin Robert runs up in Gloucester, Alchemy. Greg gave me a new digital camera (yeah!) and gorgeous flowers, He also prepared a cocktail hour before we left, and Melissa made me a cake to have when we all got back (as well as decorated our house with balloons, and streamers!).

Melissa, Holly, Jill, Nicole, & Sabrina before dinner

Dinner was great (yes I forgot the new camera in the car). And none of the yummy appetisers that were served to us were on the bill (Thanks "Onie").